Hello!
So I'm pretty much into photography and was thinking of buying a DSLR. As it will be my first, I have no idea what to choose.
Also, if anyone can explain me the differences between beginner Canon and Nikon models and to what extent are these differences considerable/negligible?

I've never used a Nikon, but I chose Canon simply from the basis of which felt most comfortable. I went into a shop, held both makes of a similar 'entry level' camera, played with the buttons and decided on that. My first was a 500d, so it was quite a while ago.

I think now the Canon entry levels seem to be the EOS 600D and 700D and you can't really go wrong with them as a beginner camera in my opinion. The Canon website shows the latest and current models http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...SLR/index.aspx (though of course you can still buy many of the older models)

(Original post by thewhitelines)
Hello!
So I'm pretty much into photography and was thinking of buying a DSLR. As it will be my first, I have no idea what to choose.
Also, if anyone can explain me the differences between beginner Canon and Nikon models and to what extent are these differences considerable/negligible?

Regards

What's your budget?

For basic entry level DSLRs, equivalent models from different manufacturers will offer very similar featuresets and image quality, the biggest limitation on how good images can be out of these cameras will be the photographer holding them As mentioned above, try out different cameras in your price range and see which brands you prefer the handling and interface of, as this is arguably the most important factor when choosing which brand of camera to commit to. Canon do have a slight edge for recommending to beginners in my opinion thanks to a slightly better selection of low priced lenses, but aside from that personal preference when using the camera is the big thing to consider

(Original post by katehlouise)
I've never used a Nikon, but I chose Canon simply from the basis of which felt most comfortable. I went into a shop, held both makes of a similar 'entry level' camera, played with the buttons and decided on that. My first was a 500d, so it was quite a while ago.

I think now the Canon entry levels seem to be the EOS 600D and 700D and you can't really go wrong with them as a beginner camera in my opinion. The Canon website shows the latest and current models http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...SLR/index.aspx (though of course you can still buy many of the older models)

For basic entry level DSLRs, equivalent models from different manufacturers will offer very similar featuresets and image quality, the biggest limitation on how good images can be out of these cameras will be the photographer holding them As mentioned above, try out different cameras in your price range and see which brands you prefer the handling and interface of, as this is arguably the most important factor when choosing which brand of camera to commit to. Canon do have a slight edge for recommending to beginners in my opinion thanks to a slightly better selection of low priced lenses, but aside from that personal preference when using the camera is the big thing to consider

I'd say about 500 pounds.
Personally, I like Canon as I've used someone else's for quite some time. But most of my friends prefer Nikon which according to them has a better image quality and colour, higher MP, longer battery and better sensors.
Also, one of my friends advised that going for a newer model like Nikon 3300D will be good as some of the older models' battery and other parts do not get replaced and she had trouble cause of that. :/

£500 gets you plenty of options Just sticking to the two big brands at the moment, you could get a Canon 1200D (£269), Canon 100D (£369), Nikon D3200 (£319) or Nikon D5200 (£419) each with an 18-55mm kit lens. The Canon 700D sits at just over £500.

The 1200D is the most barebones of the group, it's still got all the features you could want out of a DSLR and uses the same sensor as a lot of Canon's cameras from higher tiers over the last few years, but it's more plasticky built and will be a bit slower or weaker in different areas compared to more expensive ones. The 100D is a step up in most areas- it's better built, shoots faster, has a touch screen and a few extra features. The D3200 is very closely comparable to the 100D, just being on the Nikon side of the fence. The big differentiators will be more autofocus points for the Nikon, while the Canon has the touch screen. The D5200 has the same sensor as the D3200, but has extra features like a flip out screen, even better autofocusing, faster shooting and more movie recording options. The 700D falls somewhere between the D3200 and D5200, gaining features that neither have like a touchscreen that flips out and much better autofocus for video, but doesn't have as strong an autofocus system for photos.

The other major factor here is what you can do with the leftover cash- with the 1200D only taking up half the budget you can pick up some great lenses, for example you can get both the wide aperture (a wide aperture is how you achieve the blurry background look people associate with "proper" photography) Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens and a great telephoto lens and a good quality telephoto lens like the Canon 55-250mm IS II and still be £60-£70 under budget, or get the ultra wide angle Canon 10-18mm lens instead. The 100D also has enough cash leftover to get either the wide aperture or telephoto lens and leave £50+ for other stuff. With the D3200 also has enough budget space for either a wide aperture lens (35mm or 50mm 1.8) or a decent telephoto (Nikon 55-200mm), but budget for extra stuff will be limited, while the D5200 would only leave room for a naff telephoto lens that places like Curry's like to bundle in (Tamron 75-300).

It's very much a balancing act between what you want out of your camera and what sort of photos you want to take that may be best suited to different lenses

Personally, I like Canon as I've used someone else's for quite some time. But most of my friends prefer Nikon which according to them has a better image quality and colour, higher MP, longer battery and better sensors.

With regards to image quality and colour, as I mentioned before you as a photographer will be a larger restriction on how good your images look than the camera any DSLR made in the last several years is capable of creating excellent images. Nikon sensors do produce better image quality objectively, but by the time you've reached your camera sensors fullest potential odds are you'll want a better body anyway! As for colour, it depends on what you're taking photos of (lots of people prefer Canon's skin tones while blues and screens are better for Nikon). Even more importantly, learning to shoot in RAW format will give you huge control over colour- with a bit of basic editing you can get exactly what you want out of most DSLRs.

Resolution is redundant, don't factor it into your choice- all DSLRs in your price range have 18MP+ sensors which is more than enough for large prints and heavy cropping. Battery life is also not too important a factor in my opinion, the 300+ max quality shots each of these cameras get is plenty for a day out shooting, but if you find yourself draining that you'd most likely drain the 500 the higher end cameras get too! The easy thing to do is just buy a spare battery for cheap and keep it in your camera bag regardless of which camera you buy, that also helps in the event of a disaster where you've gone out with your camera and forgotten to charge it

Also, one of my friends advised that going for a newer model like Nikon 3300D will be good as some of the older models' battery and other parts do not get replaced and she had trouble cause of that. :/

I think this is more a case of buying new vs second hand than newest model vs older model DSLRs get years of support from their makers, and battery life tech hasn't changed significantly in a while. Buying slightly older generation models can be a big money saver, for example the D3200 and D3300 are almost the exact same camera, but because the D3200 is no longer the newest version it's almost £100 cheaper!

(Original post by Gofre)
£500 gets you plenty of options Just sticking to the two big brands at the moment, you could get a Canon 1200D (£269), Canon 100D (£369), Nikon D3200 (£319) or Nikon D5200 (£419) each with an 18-55mm kit lens. The Canon 700D sits at just over £500.

The 1200D is the most barebones of the group, it's still got all the features you could want out of a DSLR and uses the same sensor as a lot of Canon's cameras from higher tiers over the last few years, but it's more plasticky built and will be a bit slower or weaker in different areas compared to more expensive ones. The 100D is a step up in most areas- it's better built, shoots faster, has a touch screen and a few extra features. The D3200 is very closely comparable to the 100D, just being on the Nikon side of the fence. The big differentiators will be more autofocus points for the Nikon, while the Canon has the touch screen. The D5200 has the same sensor as the D3200, but has extra features like a flip out screen, even better autofocusing, faster shooting and more movie recording options. The 700D falls somewhere between the D3200 and D5200, gaining features that neither have like a touchscreen that flips out and much better autofocus for video, but doesn't have as strong an autofocus system for photos.

The other major factor here is what you can do with the leftover cash- with the 1200D only taking up half the budget you can pick up some great lenses, for example you can get both the wide aperture (a wide aperture is how you achieve the blurry background look people associate with "proper" photography) Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens and a great telephoto lens and a good quality telephoto lens like the Canon 55-250mm IS II and still be £60-£70 under budget, or get the ultra wide angle Canon 10-18mm lens instead. The 100D also has enough cash leftover to get either the wide aperture or telephoto lens and leave £50+ for other stuff. With the D3200 also has enough budget space for either a wide aperture lens (35mm or 50mm 1.8) or a decent telephoto (Nikon 55-200mm), but budget for extra stuff will be limited, while the D5200 would only leave room for a naff telephoto lens that places like Curry's like to bundle in (Tamron 75-300).

It's very much a balancing act between what you want out of your camera and what sort of photos you want to take that may be best suited to different lenses

With regards to image quality and colour, as I mentioned before you as a photographer will be a larger restriction on how good your images look than the camera any DSLR made in the last several years is capable of creating excellent images. Nikon sensors do produce better image quality objectively, but by the time you've reached your camera sensors fullest potential odds are you'll want a better body anyway! As for colour, it depends on what you're taking photos of (lots of people prefer Canon's skin tones while blues and screens are better for Nikon). Even more importantly, learning to shoot in RAW format will give you huge control over colour- with a bit of basic editing you can get exactly what you want out of most DSLRs.

Resolution is redundant, don't factor it into your choice- all DSLRs in your price range have 18MP+ sensors which is more than enough for large prints and heavy cropping. Battery life is also not too important a factor in my opinion, the 300+ max quality shots each of these cameras get is plenty for a day out shooting, but if you find yourself draining that you'd most likely drain the 500 the higher end cameras get too! The easy thing to do is just buy a spare battery for cheap and keep it in your camera bag regardless of which camera you buy, that also helps in the event of a disaster where you've gone out with your camera and forgotten to charge it

I think this is more a case of buying new vs second hand than newest model vs older model DSLRs get years of support from their makers, and battery life tech hasn't changed significantly in a while. Buying slightly older generation models can be a big money saver, for example the D3200 and D3300 are almost the exact same camera, but because the D3200 is no longer the newest version it's almost £100 cheaper!

Thank you so much for this! It was really insightful and you seem like a techie guy haha but still, thanks alot!

(Original post by thewhitelines)
Oh okay. Which one did you end up buying?

I'm a Canon user personally, I preferred the ergonomics and the software, and by buying a cheaper body I was able to get a nicer lens. Although the amount I've spent on cameras now has ballooned out if control

(Original post by Gofre)
I'm a Canon user personally, I preferred the ergonomics and the software, and by buying a cheaper body I was able to get a nicer lens. Although the amount I've spent on cameras now has ballooned out if control

Hmm, the balancing act I suppose :P
Hahahah I'm probably gonna end up doing the same thing in the next few years

(Original post by Gofre)
I'm a Canon user personally, I preferred the ergonomics and the software, and by buying a cheaper body I was able to get a nicer lens. Although the amount I've spent on cameras now has ballooned out if control

I don't want to hijack this thread but I was wondering if you could have any recommendations for me? I'm really only looking for a very basic model but I'd like an upgrade from the point-and-shoot cameras I've been using. I'd mainly be using it for landscape and nature photography and I ideally wouldn't want to spend more than £300ish...

(Original post by Chlorophile)
I don't want to hijack this thread but I was wondering if you could have any recommendations for me? I'm really only looking for a very basic model but I'd like an upgrade from the point-and-shoot cameras I've been using. I'd mainly be using it for landscape and nature photography and I ideally wouldn't want to spend more than £300ish...

Any basic DSLR with 18-55mm kit lens will be great to get started doing landscape photography with. Currys are currently selling the D3200 with image stabilised les for £279, which for cheaper than the more basic 1200D is a great deal as above though, go and try out both in store and see which you prefer as you might find yourself getting on better with Canon's cameras and while the D3200 is better in several areas, landscape photography makes a number of them less important like fps speed on continuous shooting mode or the autofocus speed- odds are you'll be taking your time to get the shot right so don't necessarily need the absolute fastest here!

If you have budget left over, then a tripod and remote shutter release are both extremely handy for landscape shooting. A £50ish tripod from a respected brand from Manfrotto is a good starting point, and while it won't hold up under gale force winds will do a fine job of keeping a light DSLR steady in good weather

(Original post by Gofre)
Any basic DSLR with 18-55mm kit lens will be great to get started doing landscape photography with. Currys are currently selling the D3200 with image stabilised les for £279, which for cheaper than the more basic 1200D is a great deal as above though, go and try out both in store and see which you prefer as you might find yourself getting on better with Canon's cameras and while the D3200 is better in several areas, landscape photography makes a number of them less important like fps speed on continuous shooting mode or the autofocus speed- odds are you'll be taking your time to get the shot right so don't necessarily need the absolute fastest here!

If you have budget left over, then a tripod and remote shutter release are both extremely handy for landscape shooting. A £50ish tripod from a respected brand from Manfrotto is a good starting point, and while it won't hold up under gale force winds will do a fine job of keeping a light DSLR steady in good weather

Awesome, thanks a lot! I already have a good tripod since my dad used to be into photography

(Original post by Gofre)
I'm a Canon user personally, I preferred the ergonomics and the software, and by buying a cheaper body I was able to get a nicer lens. Although the amount I've spent on cameras now has ballooned out if control

(Original post by Chlorophile)
I don't want to hijack this thread but I was wondering if you could have any recommendations for me? I'm really only looking for a very basic model but I'd like an upgrade from the point-and-shoot cameras I've been using. I'd mainly be using it for landscape and nature photography and I ideally wouldn't want to spend more than £300ish...

Or you could also buy a used camera, you could get a higher spec camera and a lens with that money, but Nikon D3200 is a good option anyway.